refined notion of equity. It is the rule at the present day, in the case of the collision of ships; and is both more equitable and more tender than leaving the loss upon that party who, by accident, first sustains it. Dividing the loss also greatly diminished the temptation to quarrel about the probable fault, and to prevent a litigation; and this is a cardinal object of all wise governments. Exod. xxi. 33-35. The doctrine of restitution in the cases of theft, of the difference in the degree of restitution when the thief had sold or killed the stolen ox, or sheep, and when it was found in the thief's hand, was most just and most politic. As the article could be restored, there was no fear of the thief's gaining by a difference of value between the sold or killed ox, and those to be restored. Exod. xxii. 1-4. The law of mandatories, or the law concerning property given in charge for safe keeping, is not to be surpassed for wisdom and equity; and all the refinements of the law to this day, do not carry the principle any further. Exod. xxii. 7-15. No rule of damages in cases of seduction is so wise as that in the law of Moses. It is the usual one lawyers now present to juries, where the case is one of real deception. Exod. xxii. 16, 17. These, and other similar laws are expressive of great wisdom, and have been uniformly honoured by all wise and benevolent legislators.

It has no doubt occurred to the intelligent reader of the Mosaic law, that there is a series of tender and sentimental injunctions, the design of which was to form the moral sensibilities of the Hebrews by a standard at once the most refined and honourable. They consist chiefly of precepts directory, to which no penalty is annexed, except that which might be inflicted by the all-governing hand of God in the

ordinary dispensations of his providence. But they were designed to exert a powerful influence; to be great moral axioms; to guard men against unnatural obduracy, and hardness of feeling; and to be a sort of standing appeal to the tenderness and honour of men in all their mutual intercourse. I allude to such examples as the following. "Thou shalt not vex a stranger, nor oppress him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Ye shall not afflict any widow, nor fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry; and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless." God bound them to act in this manner from an affectionate regard to his authority; and gave them distinctly to understand, that if they refused to do so, he himself would become the guardian of the poor, the father of the fatherless, the protector of the helpless orphan, the widow's God, and the avenger of her wrongs. A law like this is an everlasting testimony against the man who neglects the sufferings of his brethren; and though he may have all the religious ardour and zeal of a martyr, it denounces him as a base dissembler. Of the same general character is the injunction, to leave the "forgotten sheaf" in the field in the time of harvest; not "to go over the boughs of the olive tree a second time;" nor "twice glean the grapes of their vineyard;" but that what remained after the first gathering, should be left for "the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow." The same remarks are also pertinent to the rule as to " pledges," forbidding them to "take the upper or nether millstone to pledge," because this was the life, and only remaining means of sustenance to the poor. There is a remarkable

delicacy too, a singular refinement of feeling in the law relative to pledges. "When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge." You may not enter there to discover the nakedness of the land. Your eye shall not penetrate the miseries of his humble dwelling. Your presence shall not bring the blush of shame upon the face of his mortified family. You shall not have the opportunity of publishing to the world their abjectness. and low estate. "Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend, shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee." Of the same general character is the law that required a man, if he "met his enemy's ox, or ass going astray, to bring it back to him again;" the law that the "wages of every hired labourer should be paid punctually before the going down of the sun;" the injunction against slander and tale-bearing; the law against usury; and the law which even guards against hardening the feelings by destroying the bird with her eggs. Now, all this was above any mere philosopher, sage, or hero. These precepts are very touching; they are the finest political morality; and not only very high morality, but very deep sentiment. A leader of a horde of fugitive slaves, who had employed his time in tending sheep upon the mountains of Arabia. Petrea, and associating with oppressed makers of bricks, could hardly, of his own undirected wisdom, have been so sentimental in his equity. A collection of the rules of this general character would be one of the most striking collections of kind, considerate, and merciful legislation ever known; and can scarcely be believed of a lawgiver so sternly denouncing blood for every crime which struck at the social organization. The combination of the two things proves him,

not to have been a cruel, and to have been a wise legislator.

The trial of jealousy also is a singular institution among the Hebrews, if actually practised. But there is in it such an appeal to the secret terror of a guilty conscience, as to have prevented any but the innocent from submitting to its apparently harmless potions. How different was this trial to an innocent person from the trials of ordeal in the dark ages. What innocent wife could walk over burning plough-shares; steep her hands or feet in burning oil; or float, when fettered, in the horse-pond? The poor Jewess had an ordeal which could not hurt the innocent; while the middle ages had ordeals which left the innocent no chance of escape.

So likewise the reference of matters of so much nicety as not to be capable of solution by judges, to the priesthood as a body, and punishing with death a presumptuous contempt of the sentence, was well calculated to protect the ordinary magistrate from the animosity of a losing party, where the question of right was very difficult, and where the losing party would never be satisfied with a mere reason. modern constitutions it is now necessary to leave the ultimate decision of difficult matters to large bodies, who cannot, from their very multitude, be objects of personal animosity.

In

After their civil, or political laws, is their code of Penal Statutes. Law punishes as well as protects; and punishes only to strengthen its protection. In a well governed state, crime is prevented more frequently than punished. To make punishment unnecessary is the great employment of legislative wisdom. There are, I know, some peculiarities in the penal code of the Hebrews which have been the subject of loud com

plaint. Not a few of these peculiarities are to be accounted for by the fact that they were designed to keep that people distinct from the rest of mankind, and thus prevent their being involved in the idolatry of the pagan world. Infidels have made themselves merry also at the minuteness of this code. And it may be, that there are some honest, but fastidious readers of the Old Testament whose delicacy has been wounded by those very recitals, which have contributed to the formation of that high standard of susceptibility which shrinks from the conception of laws so necessary to this degraded people. When we consider that the Mosaic code was prescribed for a people ignorant of all law; a people who had just emerged from the most abject slavery; a people scarcely beyond the limits of the most loathsome and defiling paganism; we shall cease to wonder at the minuteness of its details, and shall admire the divine wisdom and condescension in stooping thus to their low condition.

There are several striking points of difference between the Mosaic penal code and that of most modern states. One of these is the requiring of two witnesses for every mortal crime, and that the witnesses should aid in the execution of the guilty. This is a very remarkable provision among such a people as the Hebrews; wonderfully calculated to prevent false testimony, and deserves imitation among the most enlightened judges and legislators. Another is, that they had no law of imprisonment, either for debt, or for crime. There are but two recorded exceptions to this remark within my knowledge. The one is the keeping of a criminal in custody for a single night, until the will of the Deity could be consulted concerning him, and the other is the appointment of the cities of refuge for the manslayer. Though of ancient usage